Census Director Robert Groves says there are now 50 million Hispanics in the USA, or 1 in 6 Americans. Hispanics account for more than half of the U.S. population increase over the last decade, exceeding estimates in most states as they crossed a new census milestone. Overall, Hispanic population increased 43.7 percent, from 35.1 million in 2000 to 50.4 million today.

After initial fears of low participation, the 2010 count of the Hispanic population came in 900,000 higher than expected, matching or surpassing census estimates in 37 states, according to the Pew Hispanic Center, a nonpartisan think tank.

Many of the biggest jumps were in the South, including Alabama, North Carolina and Louisiana, where a small but fast-growing Hispanic population was fueled by an influx of immigrants during the housing boom.

In terms of numbers, California has the largest Hispanic population. The census count showed that 37.6 percent of the state’s population, or 14 million people, were Hispanic. New Mexico has the greatest concentration of Hispanics, 46.3 percent of that state’s population.

Following California in Hispanic population were Texas, with 9.5 million; Florida, with 4.2 million; New York, with 3.4 million; and Illinois, with 2 million.

South Carolina posted the largest Hispanic population gain by percentage, up 147.9 percent, from 95,156 Hispanics in 2,000 to 235,894 today. The sparest region for Hispanics was Maine, where Hispanics account for only 1.3 percent, or 17,269, of the state’s population. Vermont has the fewest Hispanics, 9,386, or 1.5 percent of that state’s population.

The District of Columbia had the smallest percentage increase of Hispanics, 21.84 percent, from 44,957 in 2000 to 54,758 today.

Thirty-five states had Hispanic population gains of more than 50 percent. Eight of those states saw their Hispanic population more than double: Alabama, 144.8 percent; Kentucky, 121.6 percent; Maryland, 106.5 percent; Mississippi, 105.9 percent; North Carolina, 111.1 percent; South Carolina, 147.9 percent; South Dakota, 102.9 percent; and Tennessee, 134.2 percent.

The Census Bureau also counts the population of Puerto Rico, which is 99 percent Hispanic. They totaled 3.7 million, a 2 percent decline since 2000.

Meanwhile, more than 9 million Americans checked two or more race categories on their 2010 census forms, up 32 percent from 2000, a sign of burgeoning multiracial growth in an increasingly minority nation.The Census Bureau on Thursday released its first set of national-level findings from the 2010 count on race and migration, detailing a decade in which rapid minority growth, aging whites and the housing boom and bust were the predominant story lines.

Analysts said the results confirmed a demographic transformation under way that is upending traditional notions of racial minorities, political swing districts, even city and suburb.”These are big demographic changes,” said Mark Mather, an associate vice president at the nonprofit Population Reference Bureau. “There is going to be some culture shock, especially in communities that haven’t had high numbers of immigrants or minorities in the past.”
“By 2050, we may have an entirely new system of defining ourselves,” he said.

“Hispanics and immigrant minorities are providing a much needed tonic for an older, largely white population which is moving into middle age and retirement,” said William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution who analyzed many of the census figures. “They will form the bulk of our labor force growth in the next decade as they continue to disperse into larger parts of the country.”

Among census findings: The number of non-Hispanic whites, whose median age is now 41, edged up slightly to 196.8 million. Declining birth rates meant their share of the total U.S. population dropped over the last decade from 69 percent to roughly 64 percent. 

The new political maps — which will also change each state’s electoral votes_ will take effect by the 2012 elections. Many of the states in the South and West that are picking up House seats are Republican leaning, such as Texas and Florida. But most of their growth is now being driven largely by Hispanics, who tend to vote Democratic, which could put those regions in play. In Texas, which picks up four House seats, the chair of the state Senate’s redistricting panel has acknowledged that at least one House seat in north Texas could be a “minority or Hispanic influence district.”